Cute Little Family
by miller123456789
Summary: The Gold-French family goes out for a nice dinner at Granny's.
1. Chapter 1

Belle and Mr. Gold waited patiently for the other guests to arrive at the diner. They sat on the same side of the booth, his arm around her. This was a bad idea, and Belle knew that now. At the time, it seemed like a great idea, and she had begged Gold to make it happen. Now, butterflies filled her stomach.

"Rumple, I don't think this was such a good idea," she breathed.

"No, no, you wanted this, sweetheart. It's too late. This _is _happening."

The door opened, and they both held their breath. It was only Leroy in for a drink. Rumpelstiltskin was silently relieved, but Belle was a little less coy. She heaved a great sigh.

"Geez, sister," Leroy said. "What's up your-"

"Leroy!" Granny barked from behind the corner. "How many times have I told you to NOT SWEAR in my diner?"

A plate slipped from the counter, shattering on the floor. Granny let out a string of colorful language of her own.

Belle turned her attention back to Leroy and said as calmly as possible, "We're having a family get-together."

Leroy laughed out loud. "I might pass on that drink 'cause I want to see this. And remember it tomorrow."

Bae finally arrived. "Hey," he greeted.

Grumpy had told the rest of the dwarves about Belle's _fantastic _idea; they were now throwing glances their way. Granny and Ruby eyed them from the counter.

"Hello, Baelfire," she greeted back. They had only met once, when he and his father returned from Neverland. He had met Lacey, and it was not a pleasant encounter. Luckily for everyone, Lacey didn't say much.

"Great to see you, Bae," his father said.

"You know, most people call me Neal now." He took his seat.

"You'll always be Baelfire to us," Rumpelstiltskin told his only son.

Belle smiled, "Your father's told me so much about you. . . I feel like I've known you for years."

Rumpelstiltskin excused himself.

"I don't mean to pry, but . . . what did he say about me?"

"That he was coward," she whispered. "That he collected power to make up for it, but he couldn't let go of that power when it meant losing the most important person."

Bae had heard it before. He tried to forgive his father, but he didn't know if he could. He did know, however, that he could never forget what his papa did.

Belle remembered Rumpelstiltskin telling her these things. She remembered standing among the books, scarcely able to breathe. She remembered his hand on her cheek and her pathetic attempt at closure. _Have you ever had a hamburger?_

"Belle?"

"Right," she continued. "He dedicated his life to finding you, Bae. You wonder what I see in him-"

He interjected to disagree.

"Don't deny it. I want you to know that he did all the wrong things for the right reasons. He made Regina into who she is so she could cast this curse, but she didn't create the curse. Your father made the curse so he could come to this world to find you. He-"

Bae opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. He didn't know that. His father devastated an entire population for him? It was both touching and disgusting. Belle grabbed his hand from the table and smiled gently. Even though she was barely older than he, she already thought of him as her son.

Belle's father entered the diner. His daughter was with a relatively handsome young man who seemed to be interested in her. Maybe like that, maybe not. He noted that he shouldn't look too much into this.

He hadn't seen Belle since he tried to send her over the town line. He hadn't been there when she went to the shop, so she left her note with the boy behind the counter.

"Belle!" he called with joy.

She dropped Bae's hand and ran into his embrace. He moved his hands from her cheeks to her neck and finally settled on resting his hands among the dark curls that shaped her face.

"Belle! I'm so sorry! I will never forgive myself for what I did to you! Belle!"

The whole diner was staring. Belle shot Ruby a help-me-I'm-dying-over-here look. She shrugged sheepishly in response.

"Papa. . ."

He continued to sob.

"Papa! Let's not talk of this now. This is supposed to be a pleasant dinner," she lied to herself. "We don't have to _ever _talk about that again, alright?"

Belle went back to her seat, and her father sat next to her.

"I'm Baelfire," Bae introduced. "But most people call me Neil. My father will be here in a minute."

Moe had a sudden realization. "Wait, you're . . . Gold's son?"

Neal confirmed it.

"But I thought . . . you two were holding hands, and . . ."

"Whoah," Neal exclaimed holding up his hands.

At the same time, Belle asked, "What? I can't touch my step-son?"

"Nothing like that," Bae finished.

Moe took a deep breath. "Thanks for the clarification," he told Bae coldly. He turned to Belle. "He's not your step-son."

"Theoretically," she countered. "Please, Papa, I don't want to fight."

Neal smiled the way only Neal Cassidy could, like he couldn't believe he was having this conversation. "I'll try to be a good theoretical-step-son."

"What are we talking about?" Rumpelstiltskin was back.

Bae was glad, but he was angry at him for leaving him with Moe.

"Where have you been? You're supposed to deal with the awkward small-talk with the father-in-law. I mean, _theoretical_-father-in-law, of course."

He gave his son a look that said, _I am so sorry. _"Mr. French," he greeted with mock amiability.

"Gold," he barked.

"What would you folks like to drink?" Ruby asked nervously. "Or are you ready to order?"

They all knew what they wanted.

"I'll take an iced tea and a hamburger," Belle requested.

She scribbled something down. "No problem. You?" she asked Moe.

"I'd like somethin' a little stronger than iced tea."

"Whiskey?" she suggested.

"Sounds good," he replied.

"I'll take one as well," Gold requested.


	2. Chapter 2

The dinner was awkward to say the least. There was an undeniable tension in the air. The whole diner sensed it. The group that eyed them from the counter now included Dr. Whale. They all slipped money between them on who would break first, who would throw the first punch, about what time Gold would curse Moe, etcetera.

Belle did the talking. How she was making her own life. How beautiful the library was. How she would have an _amazing _grand opening in a few weeks.

Moe looked over at Mr. Gold as if he expected the man to be angry at Belle's words. On the contrary. If his Belle was happy, he was happy.

"But you're still together?" Moe questioned.

Rumple decided to keep Belle out of the awkward and angry questioning.

"Yes," he confirmed. "Things haven't exactly been . . . easy for either of us since Storybrooke awakened, so we're taking things a bit slower."

Moe scoffed. "You've got problems! Like what?"

Belle went pale for a moment. When she recovered, a fire filled her eyes, something between fear and bravery. Moe marveled at the changes that his daughter had undergone since she left with that imp what seemed like a lifetime ago. This was a woman who was not unafraid, but she was ready to meet what the future held.

"Speak of the devil," she spat.

The party turned to see none other than Killian Jones and William Smee.

"Two rums! If you please," he drawled to Ruby.

"We don't serve rum," she informed him bluntly. "We have wine and whiskey."

"What a waste of a . . . _fine _establishment." He raised his eyebrows at Ruby.

"You're not getting rum," she repeated. "What do you want?"

He gave a wicked smile. "I'm sure we could . . . work something out."

She pushed past him and went back to work.

Hook noticed the table, so he strutted over. More glances were thrown their way, and more money passed around.

"Look at the adorable family," he said sarcastically. "Nothing could warm my heart more."

Belle glared dangers at him.

"What's the matter, love?"

"Pardon me," she mockingly begged forgiveness. "Pardon me for not being cordial with the man who _shot me!_"

Fire sparked in Moe's eyes. As he stood up, he balled his fist and swung it at Hook. He tried to swing back, but Belle jumped out of the booth and shoved him to the floor. Mr. Gold stood from the bench and tried to take her hand, but Moe shoved her back into the booth and sat down, pushing her against the wall. She didn't try to look like a damsel in distress, melting into the wall with her father protecting her, but she didn't have much of a choice. Her father was pushing her back hard. She craned her neck to see Rumpelstiltskin attempting to hit the captain with his cane. Neal took the cane from his father's hand, while Granny threw Hook out of the restaurant.

"Father, let me go!" Belle commanded.

As he did so, she coughed, trying to catch her breath.

"Perhaps this'll help," Bae offered, pushing her iced tea closer to her.

"That reminds me of something," Moe said. "Mr. Smee told me that you tried to remove his memory by sending him over the town line."

"You did what?" Belle and Bae exclaimed at the same time.

This is what Rumpelstiltskin couldn't stand about this man. He refused to acknowledge his own mistakes. "First of all, I was testing a potion that would let me leave town to find _my son_," he emphasized, gesturing towards Bae. "And second of all, as I told Mr. Smee, it was a fate the two of you were more than happy to bestow upon Belle."

"Please," said the woman of question. "Let's not talk about this."

"No, I want to talk about this," Bae disagreed. "You were going to send your daughter over the town line? What, so she would forget my father?"

"He took her away from me," he said darkly. "He took her and did God-knows-what to her! Locked her up in that stupid pink house. She never got to see the light of day, and she didn't want to come home!"

"Papa," Belle said, taking his face in her hands. "What are you talking about?"

"What did you do, Belle?" he asked absently. "Where did you go when Cinderella and James captured him? Did you get to eat? Did anyone visit you?"

"There's clearly been a misunderstanding," she said slowly. "Listen, Papa, please. He let me go."

Rumple grimaced. "Don't sugar-coat it. I threw you out."

Moe stared him down. If only looks could kill.

"I ended up at a dwarf tavern with Grumpy."

"My deepest apologies," Rumple said sincerely.

Belle laughed. "No, he was different back then. They called him Dreamy. After I encouraged him to be with his love, he gave me fairy-dust and encouraged me to join a wagon of men hunting the beast called the yaoguai. I was thrown off the wagon, and I met a woman named Mulan. She injured herself trying to stop me from being thrown down a well, so I went to her village to slay it. It began writing in the dirt. _Help me. _So I poured the fairy dust on it and it turned into a prince, Prince Phillip. He promised to find Mulan a doctor, so I left, planning on going back to the Dark Castle, but one of the wagon-men tipped off Regina. She captured me and . . ." She trailed off. She didn't like to talk about it, but this was her family. Yet she looked squarely at Rumpelstiltskin. "All through the curse, I was in the asylum. Right before the curse broke, someone let me out and told me to find Mr. Gold and-"

"Someone _let you out_?" Rumple questioned. "You didn't tell me that before. Who?"

"I don't know," she confessed. "I haven't seen him since."

William Smee still sat at the counter with his red hat. He turned back and saw the silence at the table. He figured this was as good a time as any.

"Ma'am," he said to Belle, taking off his hat. "My deepest apologies."

She tried not to look at him.

"Belle?" her father questioned.

"You were going to take my life away," she whispered.

"No, sweetheart." He began to sob. "I could never kill you."

"You were going to take my life away but leave me alive. That's a fate worse than death. That's what Regina did to me, and Hook, and what you two tried to do. All because of Rumpelstiltskin. It only makes me more determined to be with him because I've given him every opportunity to do something like that and he hasn't!"

Everyone was silent. The diner was silent before, except for Belle; everyone heard. She avoided any eyes despite the fact that they were glued on her.

Bae didn't know what to do. He didn't really belong there. He was only there to support his father. He tapped Belle's foot under the table. She looked up at him. Even though he knew that, when it came to Belle, his father didn't care what anyone thought, even Bae, but she was alright in his book. They simply stared at one another for a moment, theoretical-step-mother and theoretical-step-son.

She had been so worried that Rumple's son wouldn't forgive his father, wouldn't like her, wouldn't approve of their relationship. Her worries were silly; she knew that now.

He smiled, not a I-know-everyone-is-looking-at-you-don't-freak-out-it's-going-to-be-okay smile, but an ear-to-ear grin. He began clapping. Soon Rumple and Ruby joined in. It wasn't long before the whole diner was clapping.

"Someone's had too much to drink," Belle commented to break the silence.

Smee scurried off.

"Look, Gold," Moe began, still sobbing. "I'm sorry if I have a bias against you. I didn't know that Regina held her for all those years. She told me you killed her before the curse came. I went to her when I heard Belle might still be alive, and she told me that she was mistaken, that you _nearly _killed her. That you still had her. Can you see that I had to think you enchanted her or something when she said she chose to be with you?"

Gold ignored his question. "She told me you killed her. Even though I knew that you hadn't done anything wrong, you still tried to hurt her. You tried to take everything away from your own daughter just so you could take everything away from me-"

"Here's my view," Bae interrupted. "I don't get how you could send your own daughter over the-"

"In my defense, he nearly beat me to a pulp!"

"You did what?" Belle screamed at Rumple.

"In _my _defense, I spent twenty-eight years believing you killed the love of my life! Your own daughter!"

"Let me finish!" Bae commanded. He turned to the man who sat diagonally from him. "Moe, my dad needs help. Everyone at this table knows that. He _needs _Belle the way you and I need to breathe and need to eat. He is a mess. An undeniable, unlovable, unfixable mess. Belle doesn't deny it, but she loves him. She's fixing him! I didn't think that was possible. He wouldn't hurt her because he loves her too. And Dad," Bae sighed. "Belle is your miracle. For some unexplainable reason, she fell in love with you. I never got to mention that I met Phillip and Mulan, and - How is the least weird way to say this? - he's a real, good-old-fashioned Prince Charming, the Brad Pitt of the Enchanted Forest, yet she was going to go back to _you. _Please, please, please! Don't mess this up."

Belle laughed. Bae's final stop was her.

"Belle, like I said, my dad _needs _you. He desperately needs you! He's gonna make mistakes and do stupid things, but he loves you."

"I know," she said.

Belle looked at Baelfire with a new-found respect. Maybe it was the tears gathering, but he thought he could see a special glint in her eyes. Pride.

Belle pulled herself together and smiled at the two men on the other side of the table. They both started blubbering.

Maurice broke the silence. "I'm sorry Gold. I'm sorry Belle. I'm so sorry!"

"Papa, it's okay," she breathed. "It's alright. I've forgiven you."

"I don't get it," he replied. "I don't know how you do it."

She smiled gently.

"That makes two of us," Gold commented.


End file.
